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95-21842 Reso R RESOLUTION NO. 95-21842 A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR AND CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE THE ATTACHED AMENDMENT TO THAT CERTAIN LETTER OF INTENT BY AND BETWEEN THE MIAMI BEACH REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY,THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, ST. MORITZ HOTEL CORPORATION AND LOEWS HOTELS HOLDING CORPORATION,PERTAINING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CONVENTION CENTER HOTEL AND PARKING GARAGE. WHEREAS, St. Moritz Hotel Corporation("SMHC") was the winning bidder in response to the Convention Center Hotel Request for Proposals; and WHEREAS, the Miami Beach Redevelopment Agency (the "RDA"), the City of Miami Beach, Florida(the "City"), SMHC and Loews Hotels Holding Corporation("LHHC") executed a Letter of Intent(the "LOI") pertaining to the development of an approximately 800 room hotel (the "Hotel")at and near 16th Street east of Collins Avenue, Miami Beach and an approximately 800 car garage(the"Garage")at or near 16th Street between Collins and Washington Avenues, Miami Beach; and WHEREAS, negotiations are proceeding on numerous agreements relating to the development of the Hotel and Garage; and WHEREAS,the LOI provides that if the agreements for the development of the Hotel and Garage are not executed by the RDA and SMHC prior to December 15, 1995, the RDA or the City may be responsible to reimburse SMHC for certain design expenses for the development of the Hotel and the Garage; and WHEREAS,due to, among other things,the work and time involved in connection with the negotiation of numerous agreements, a bond issuance,bank financing and property acquisition related to the Garage, the RDA, the City, SMHC and LHHC would like to execute the attached Amendment to the LOI to extend the time by which the agreements must be executed and when liability for reimbursement of design expenses might apply; and WHEREAS,Section 12(h) of the LOI provides that the LOI may be amended by a written agreement executed by both of SMHC and the RDA. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT DULY RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA as follows: 1. The Mayor and City Clerk are authorized and directed to execute the attached Amendment to that certain Letter of Intent by and between the Miami Beach Redevelopment Agency, the City of Miami Beach, Florida, St. Moritz Hotel Corporation and Loews Hotels Holding Corporation. 2. This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon its passage. PASSED AND ADOPTED this 6th day of December , 1995. AIL _ 1 MA O' ATTEST: TY CLERK AIT/kw «\wpwin60\resos\amdagrmtses FORM APPROVED Legal By Date lX/5105 2 CITY OF MIAMI BEACH CITY HALL 1700 CONVENTION CENTER DRIVE MIAMI BEACH FLORIDA 33139 COMMISSION MEMORANDUM NO. 897 95 TO: Mayor Seymour Gelber and Members of the City Commission DATE: December 6 , 1995 FROM: Jose Garcia-Pedrosa City Manager SUBJECT: A RESOLUTION UTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION 0 EXECUTE AN AMENDMENT TO THE LETTER OF INTENT WITH ST. MORITZ HOTEL CORPORATION RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Commission/Redevelopment Agency Board approve the attached Resolution amending the Letter of Intent (LOI) to extend the date of signing of the Development Agreement and other relevant documents with St. Moritz Hotel Corporation from December 15, 1995, to no later than January 11, 1996 . BACKGROUND: The Miami Beach Redevelopment Agency' s (RDA' s) negotiating team and St . Moritz Hotel Corporation have been diligently pursuing closure on the convention hotel legal documents. The RDA' s outside counsel, Squire, Sanders and Dempsey, have prepared drafts of the hotel lease agreement and the garage development agreement . A major negotiating meeting will occur in New York on December 11 through December 13, 1995 . The Negotiating Team focused on resolving major substantive points prior to full drafting of the agreements. ANALYSIS: The Letter of Intent, signed on May 3, 1995, contained a deadline of December 15, 1995, to complete negotiations and have all documents prepared. AGENDA ITEM R f DATE 12 -6-aS This deadline has proved to be too ambitious due to the complexity and enormity of the agreements necessary to conclude the deal . An extension is necessary to provide sufficient time for a closing. In the meantime, Loews will continue to expend funds for the design development effort in order to remain on schedule to permit a construction start in late spring and an opening by late 1997 . As a result, Loews will be committing out of pocket funding far beyond the $1 .6 million envisioned in the May LOI when a December 15, 1995 closing was presumed and is requesting an increase in the City' s potential liability to cover these costs. The negotiating team has reached an agreement with Loews to defer this request until the City Commission/Redevelopment Agency meeting on January 10, 1996 at which time the following should have occurred: 1) Loews will have a commitment letter for its $66 million financial package with Bankers Trust. 2) The negotiating team will have concluded the major portion of the ground lease during negotiation meetings in New York from December 10 to December 13 , 1995 . 3) The hotel development agreement will have been drafted and reviewed and in final stages of completion. Therefore, at the January 10, 1996 Commission/Redevelopment Agency meeting, the negotiating team expects to be able to better advise the Commissioners/Redevelopment Agency Board of the anticipated timetable for closing the deal, and the increased design development costs that will be incurred through closing to assure a late spring start. Additionally, Rod Eisenberg has served a Notice of Appeal regarding the Summary Judgment granted to the City and the County in the lawsuit he had filed contesting the establishment of the City Center Redevelopment Area. Because the December 15, 1995 deadline is upon us, the Administration recommends an interim extension of the LOI deadline to January 11, 1996, with the understanding that prior to January 11, 1996, terms for the actual extension can be negotiated and brought back to the Commission/RDA Board. REVENUE IMPACTS TO THE CITY: The signing of the Agreements will trigger the extra one penny bed tax. The Administration had contemplated the signing of documents in December when the resort tax budget was prepared earlier this year. For this reason, the Administration is very concerned about the extent of any delay. The postponement of the deadline will cause the City' s projected revenues to be reduced from the $1 . 6 million estimated in the City' s budget for this fiscal year. One half of this money is committed to funding of the debt service for the hotel, so that the diminution of potential revenues to the City is actually less. This "paper impact" to the City must always be evaluated in light of the negative consequences of rushing to negotiate to an artificial deadline, resulting in less favorable financial terms to the City. Nevertheless, the Administration will push aggressively to minimize any delays. CONCLUSION: The City Commission/Redevelopment Agency should approve the amendment to the Letter of Intent as recommended by the negotiating team. JGP/HSM: jph Attachments